One moment
by Rivan Warrioress
Summary: It's amazing how much everything can change in a single moment. A phone call drastically changes the life of one of the Squints, forever. The first in a Series. BXB, HXA
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. This story starts off some time early on in Season three (about the Mummy in the Maze or just after) and then skews off into AUness.**

Chapter 1

It was a seemingly ordinary day in late November for Dr. Temperance Brennan and her team at the Jeffersonian Institute. For the past few weeks not many bodies had been found that required the team's expertise, so they filled their time with the backlog of bodies that were stored at the institute, hoping to finally identify them, and return them to their grieving families, providing both closure and answers.

That day was different. It had been about midday when the phone had rung. Brennan and Zack were studying the bones of a old Limbo case (a middle aged woman, who had died of a heart attack, in the middle of a park), whose identity was unknown. Angela was in her office, trying to reconstruct the woman's image, while Hodgins was examining some bugs he had found in his garden that morning under his microscope, so Dr. Saroyen picked up the receiver, silencing the ominous ringing.

"Hello, this is the forensics lab at the Jeffersonian institute, Dr. Saroyen speaking, Can I help you?" she spoke into the receiver.

"Is Doctor Addy there, please?"

"May I ask who is calling?"

"His brother, Steve. It's an emergency"

"Alright, one moment please."

Cam set the receiver down and hurried to where Brennan and Zach were working. While she'd been on the phone, Booth had shown up planning to invite the Squints out to lunch (naturally, so he could spend more time with Bones). Seeing the Special Agent, Angela and Dr. Hodgins had hurried to meet him.

"Do we have a case?" Hodgins asked as Cam reached the group.

"No, nothing at the moment." Booth said.

"Why are you here then?" Dr. Brennan had asked

"Aren't I allowed to visit my favourite team of Squints?" Booth used his most charming smile on Bones, while Angela rolled her eyes.

"Zach, your brother is on the phone." Cam cut in, and Zach looked at her.

"Which one? I told them not to call me at work."

"Steve, and he said it was important."

"I'll take it here." Zach said, more to himself than to his colleagues, walking to the desk at the edge of the platform, and picking up the phone receiver.

"Steve, what's wrong. I told you not to ring me while I'm at work." Zach was silent as Steve spoke.

"Wait, what happened?" Zach fell silent again as Steve said something else. The rest of the Squints were all looking at Zach, picking up on the sudden anxiousness in the younger man's voice.

"Are the police investigating?" Zach asked, running his free hand through his hair, before resting it on the edge of the table, gripping tightly. The others froze when they saw tears shining in his eyes. Something was, obviously, seriously wrong.

"Do the others all know?" Zach asked, and Steve replied quickly.

"Okay, I'll go and tell her in person, we should be up there by Sunday. I'll call you after I tell her." Steve obviously approved of this plan, because Zach spoke again very quickly.

"See you soon, then. Bye." Zach put the receiver back in its cradle, took a deep shuddering breath, and turned his back and hurried towards his office. He closed his office door and leant against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor. He leant his head back and blinked, tears flowing from his eyes and down his cheeks. A gentle knocking was heard from the door. Zach contemplated locking the door, but knew that it would be no good, so he wiped his eyes and opened his door, still sitting upon the floor. Angela was at his side in a second, wrapping him in a bear hug, which caused Zach to burst into tears again. The others were all behind her.

"Hey, buddy, what's wrong?"

"You should tell us what happened, maybe we can help" Bones added, and Booth nodded.

A strange, hollow, voice spoke, "Not unless you can bring back the dead, Dr. Brennan." It took the others a moment to realise that it was Zach that had spoken.

"What do you mean?" Bones asked

"It was my oldest brother, Steve. He rang to tell me…" Zach faded off.

"Go on, Zach," Angela rubbed his shoulder encouragingly. Zach looked up at the group, his second family, and his tear filled eyes met everyone else's eyes.

"My parents were murdered last night."

"What?" Booth asked. Zach blinked, and tears rolled down his cheeks. He wiped them away.

"Steve told me that he was going around to help Dad put up the Christmas lights this morning, and when he got there, the door was wide open, and their bodies were sprawled out on the lounge room floor. They'd been shot in the head, execution style. Steve rang for an ambulance, and the police, but there was nothing they could do, they were both already gone." Zach sniffed, and Angela embraced him again.

"Oh Sweetie, I'm so sorry."

"Are you going to be okay?" Bones asked.

"Bones, he just found out his parents are dead, of course he isn't okay" Booth rolled his eyes, and Bones glared at him.

"Can we do anything for you, Zach?" Hodgins asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Steve asked me to go and tell my little sister, so I guess I should go and do that."

"Where is she, I didn't know you had family in DC?" Hodgins asked.

"She isn't in Washington, she's in Ohio. She goes to College there"

"How old is she?" Booth asked.

"She'll be twenty in late January. This is her second course at College level."

"What does she study?" Angela was interested, as Zach didn't often talk about his family, but they sounded like nice people.

"She's studying Computer Science, with a minor in forensics. She's already finished a degree in Technology security, majoring in program design." Zach said, and the others could hear the pride in his voice.

"Wow, impressive" Angela commented. Zach nodded.

"She's always loved computers. By the time she was twelve she could completely take a computer to pieces, and put it all back together."

"That's a little freaky" Booth commented.

"Are you going to ring her?" Bones ignored Booth, and Zach shook his head, his hair falling across his face.

"No, I'll go tell her in person. It's on the way, anyway. I'll need to book a flight though."

"Don't worry about it, if we wait until the end of the day, I'll drive you back to your house, and we'll pick up your little sister on the way."

"Hodgins, I can't ask you to do that, it's a long way, besides, my sister drives, she has a car, she'll probably drive the rest of the way."

"I can at least get you as far as Ohio, Zach. You know how hard it is to get flights at this time of year."

"Hodgins," Zach protested.

"Zach, your parents have just died, let me do this for you." Hodgins grinned.

"And, assuming that this won't become some male bonding road trip, I'll come too." Angela added, "For both morale support, and so Hodgins isn't alone on the trip back."

Zach looked conflicted for a moment, before finally giving in to his two closest friend's wishes.

"Okay, you can help me."

"You three can go home" Cam spoke up, "So you can get all your packing done."

""How long do you think you'll be gone for, Zach" Bones asked as Hodgins helped pull Zach to his feet, but the younger man shook his head.

"I don't know" he said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Zach, Hodgins, and Angela looked up at the residential building of the college. Zach sighed, and wiped his eyes.

"Are you sure you want to do this alone, sweetie?' Angela asked, and Zach shook his head.

"I have to do this, by myself. She's my little sister, and I have to do this for her."

"Call me if you need us" Hodgins said, understanding that Zach needed to do this by himself. Zach half smiled towards his best friend, and got out of the car, trudging along the path that lead to the residential building. With one had, he pulled his coat tighter around himself, while the other clasped a small piece of paper, with his sister's room number on it. He walked through the main doors, and walked up the stairs. By the time he reached the fifth floor, he was puffed. He walked along the corridor, keeping track of the room numbers on either side. Finally, Zach reached his sister's room, and knocked on the door, hoping she was there. He heard footsteps behind the door, and let out a relieved breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.

The door opened with a creak.

"Zach, what are you doing here?"

"Dani, I need to tell you something, can I come in?" Zach exhaled as Dani let him into her room.

"Whats wrong Zach, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Dani, its Mom and Dad." Zach began, and Dani froze.

"What happened, Zach?" there was a mix of urgency, fear and dread in her voice. Zach blinked, feeling tears well up in his eyes once more.

"Steve found them yesterday morning, they were dead."

"What!" Dani replied, unable to believe what her brother was saying.

"On Thursday night, someone broke into the house, and shot them." Zach said, his voice wobbling dangerously. Dani slumped onto her bed, and sobbed. Zach sat beside her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. She leant against him, sobbing into his jacket. Zach blinked, tears rolling down his face as he rubbed his sisters back, just like his mother had whenever he had been upset when he was younger.

"I can't believe they're gone, Zach," Dani whispered, "Who would want to hurt them?"

Zach shook his head, "I don't know, Dani, I really don't know."

XO XO XO XO XO

Danielle Addy, or Dani as she preferred, was a strange child, Hodgins found himself thinking when he and Angela met Zach and Dani an hour later, in the College car park. She was much shorter than Zach, barely making it to five foot two, although Hodgins could spot similarities between them. Both of their faces bore a youthful look, making them both look younger than they were. Zach and Dani had the same eyes; blue orbs that stood out from their pale skin. Dani's hair was a couple of shades darker than Zach's, though it was thick and wavy, just like Zach's. A notable difference between the two was that Dani was much more confident than her brother socially, easily falling into conversation with Hodgins and Angela, although she was obviously grief stricken by her parent's death.

At Zach and Dani's request, Hodgins and Angela spent the afternoon sightseeing, allowing the brother and sister to spend time together to share their grief. That night, they picked Zach up from the college, and went to the hotel they were staying the night at. Dani would pick Zach up at Seven o'clock in the morning, and they would continue on to Michigan, while Hodgins and Angela would go back to Washington.

Hodgins went to find a take away food shop, leaving Zach and Angela in the Hotel room together. Zach was sitting on the couch, which he would be sleeping on that night, and Angela gently laid her hand upon his shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I think I'm okay, it's just harder than I thought it would be, especially seeing Dani in that much pain, and knowing that I was the one who made her that upset."

"Zach, its not your fault. Your parents died, you just told her about what had happened." Angela said, sitting down beside him, and wrapping her arm around his slender shoulders.

"I know, I just don't like seeing her upset."

Angela ran her fingers through Zach's hair soothingly, "She seems like she's a great kid."

"She is, even though I'm three years older than her, she understands me. Our parents used to joke that we were more like twins than just brother and sister."

"That's sweet" Angela smiled, and Zach let a small grin flicker across his face.

"Yeah, but when we got older, the differences started showing. Mom really didn't like some of Dani's choices, and Dani knew it. Dani is the most rebellious of all six of us, and Mom, she didn't like it."

"She didn't strike me as a rebel," Angela commented. Zach shrugged.

"Your idea of a rebel, and my mom's idea of a rebel, was probably very different."

"Oh, parents are like that, I guess."

Zach shrugged, "It was really bad for Dani when she was growing up, especially when I left. Mom thought I was the golden child, and everything Dani did never seemed to measure up in comparison to me. Dani knew Mom thought this, and it hurt her, not physically, but emotionally. I was the only one she opened up to in the entire family, and, well, when I left, I wasn't there. It was Dani, Mom, and Dad, and occasionally, one of the others, but they were the hardest years of her life, and she reacted accordingly."

"How rebellious are we talking" Angela asked out of curiosity, and also as she saw that talking was helping Zach feel better.

"Oh, she wasn't on drugs, and she's never smoked. She got drunk a little bit, and she had a habit of locking herself in her room. Sometimes, she'd ignore Mom, or fight back when Mom was talking to her. They fought a fair bit."

"That's all normal teenaged stuff, though," Angela was confused, and Zach shrugged.

"I don't know. Mom just had issues with Dani. They're all solved now, but I think it upsets Dani that they lost those three or four years, and now Mom's, well, you know…" he faded off.

"Dead. What about your other siblings?"

"What about them?"

"What do they do? Are they married? Do they have kids? What are there names? I know you mention them at work from time to time, but you rarely go into details."

Zach shrugged, and opened up his bag, which lay at his feet, and started sorting through his belongings until he removed a photo frame, which he handed to Angela. In it was a photo of Zach and his family. Angela could easily spot out Dani, as Zach's arms were protectively around her.

Zach pointed out one of the men in the photo "That's my oldest brother. His name is Stevenson, shortened to Steve. He works as a Human Resources manager for a company. He's married, with two children, Tom and Kate. Tom is five, and Kate is three." Zach pointed out the two children, before pointing at another of his brothers.

"Then there is Matthew, or Matt. He works for a newspaper in Detroit, as a columnist. He's married as well, with three children; Scott, who is seven, Amy, who is five, and David, who is four." Zach pointed out each of the children, before pointing at his other sister.

"That's Elizabeth, or Lizzie. She's a Nurse at the local maternity hospital. She's married, with one child, Benjamin, or just Ben. He's one." Zach pointed at the little baby in his sister's arms, before pointing at his last brother.

"And that's Samuel. He works as an accountant, although he plays hockey part time at a regional level. That's his way of rebelling against mom, although she was always so proud of him."

"Why would playing hockey be seen as rebellion?" Angela asked. Zach sighed.

"When Sam was twelve, I was eight, and Dani had just turned five, Mom had to help Lizzie with her homework, so she asked Sam to watch me and Dani. She said we could go across the road, to a park, and ride our bikes, so we set off. Sam leading, with Dani behind him and I was following her, just in case she fell off. Anyway, we were going to cross the street, and the road looked clear, so we crossed. A drunk driver sped around the corner, and hit us. He didn't even stop. Sam got hurt the worse, because he tried to get Dani and I out of the road. He broke his back, and we were told he'd never walk again. Almost 15 years later, and he's playing Hockey competitively."

"Wow, that's a sad story, and yet with a happy ending, sort of."

"Yeah, I guess so. I swore from that day on that I'd never ride my bike again, and I haven't."

"What about Dani, does she hold similar rules?"

"No, Dani's a lot braver than I am. She's able to look something she's afraid of in the face, and stare it down, except when its snakes. She can't stand snakes."

"How very much like Bren of her." Angela joked, and Zach let out a little laugh.

At that moment, the door opened and Hodgins came in, carrying a plastic bag.

"I come bearing Chinese food" he said, and Zach got up to help him set the table. Angela stayed on the couch, looking at the photo. It had obviously been taken at Christmas time, as the younger members of the family, that is, Dani, and all of Zach's Nieces and Nephews were wearing Santa hats, and the others were all wearing the flimsy hats that come out of bonbons. The adults were all standing, with Zach's parents at the centre of the group. Zach stood beside his mother, with Dani beside him, and Steve on her other side. Matt, Lizzie, and Sam were on the other side of their father, with the younger children on the ground along the front, grinning up at the camera. Angela smiled sadly. The photo was cute, but it was heartbreaking for her to see the family so happy, when, just less than a year later, they would be torn apart by murder.

She'd seen it happen so many times through her work, but she couldn't believe that it had happened to Zach's family.

**A.N. Hi, just a few points I would like to bring up. Zach and Dani's siblings are Not going to be a huge part of this story (and neither are their children) so don't worry about trying to remember names or birth order. **

**Another thing is that I am not American, so I therefore do not habitually use the 'Mom' spelling of the shortened term for mother, but, I realise that the characters in Bones are American, so I'll try to use the Mom spelling over the Mum spelling as much as I can, although I might accidently slip up and use the Mum spelling occasionally.**

**Does all that make sense? I hope it does.**

**Anyway, please review.**

**R.W.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Squint team were working on their latest case when the phone began to ring. They all paused as the phone rang out shrilly as Cam hurried to answer it.

"Hello?" she spoke into the receiver, "Zach, how are you?"

Upon hearing their colleague's name, the others all put down what they were holding, and approached Cam.

"That's good, you got there safely?" she asked, meeting Brennan's eyes.

"Let me talk to him," Hodgins demanded.

"Put him on speakerphone or something" Angela added. Cam sighed and nodded.

"Hang on Zach; I'm just going to put you on speakerphone. Hodgins and Angela are breathing down my neck" Cam smiled and flicked a switch on the phone, putting the receiver back in its cradle.

"Hi guys" Zach's voice issued from the speaker, a little more cheerful than it had been the last time Hodgins and Angela had seen him, when a grimfaced Dani had come to pick him up in her car, but it certainly wasn't as upbeat as it usually was when he was at home.

"Hey, Sweetie, how are you?" Angela asked.

"Okay, considering everything that's been going on." Zach said.

"How's, how's Dani and the rest of the family going with it?" Hodgins asked.

"They're okay as well. I don't think it's sunk in for them yet, mentally and emotionally speaking," Zach replied.

"When do you think the funeral is going to be, Zach?" Brennan said, and there was a pause before Zach replied.

"Next Monday. We have to wait until the investigators are finished with the bodies."

"We'll see you there, Zach." Cam said, "Brennan, Hodgins, Angela, I'll ask Booth as well, and me. We'll all come and support you."

"You don't have to do that," Zach began.

"Zach, Shut-up, we're coming, and nothings going to stop us." Hodgins interrupted. Zach fell silent on the other end of the phone.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" Angela asked, concerned.

"Um, yes. Thank-you, really." Zach stammered, overwhelmed by their loyalty to him.

"Zach, we are your friends, it's the least we can do" Angela said, wanting to hug the younger man down the phone.

"Thank-you, I have to go now. I guess I'll see you soon, then." Zach's voice had gone quiet, and all of the Squints could practically hear the tears in his voice.

"Bye Sweetie," Angela said, and Zach whispered his response.

"Bye" he whispered, before hanging up. The Squint squad stood in silence as Cam pressed the end call button.

"I'll go ring Booth and ask him to come" Brennan said, moving off in the direction of her office. Hodgins wrapped his arms around Angela's shoulders as tears filled the artist's eyes. Cam looked down at her feet as Hodgins rested his head on Angela's shoulder. They all knew that the death of Zach's parents had affected the young man that had become like their little brother, but none knew how much it had.

XO XO XO XO XO

The day of Zach's parent's funeral dawned clearly, the rain clouds that had threatened all weekend blowing away during the night. Zach sat in his childhood bedroom, dressed already in his black suit. His gaze was fixed on a photo on his bedside table. It was the same photo he had shown Angela, the one that had been taken last Christmas of his family. A slight noise at his door made him turn to face it. He smiled at Dani, still dressed in her pyjamas.

"Hey" she smiled, offering him a mug of hot coffee, made just how he liked it. He gave her a weak smile as she walked across the room and gave it to him, before sitting down next to him, cupping her own mug in her hand. He smiled when he smelt the chocolate odour rising from her mug. Dani had never liked coffee.

"How are you doing?" he asked, feeling that, as her big brother, he should.

"I'm okay. Just glad they caught the bastard." Dani raised her mug to her lips and sipped. Zach nodded, remembering the relief he had felt when, on Saturday, they had received a call informing them that Harry Davidson, an old friend of his father, had been arrested, and had later confessed to the murders. Zach wrapped his spare arm around Dani's shoulders and rubbed her arm as she leant against him.

"Do you remember when we were kids, and I used to sneak in here after bedtime and we used to talk about stuff?" she asked, and Zach nodded.

"I think you were the one I missed most of all after I left." He admitted. It was true, Dani was the only one in his family that he'd felt had understood him as he had grown up into the socially awkward guy he was.

"I know you were the one I missed most when I left" Dani replied, enjoying being in her brother's company. They sat in silence as they finished their drinks, and Zach fell back into gazing at the photograph. Dani followed his gaze until she realised what he was looking at.

"I have that same picture in my dorm." She smiled, remembering the day. It had been fun; it always was when they were all together.

"Yeah, It's a good photo. We're all in it."

"Yep, everyone." Dani fell silent again and sipped her ho chocolate some more. As she finished her mug, she glanced across at Zach's face.

"I can't believe they're gone. I mean, you tell me about all these murders you help solve, and all that but you never think its going to happen to your family."

"I know what you mean, I think" Zach tore his eyes from the photo to look at his little sister. He could see the tears shining in her eyes and clinging to her eyelashes, and gently wiped them away with his thumb.

"Go get ready, we need to leave soon" he told her, and she nodded, letting him take her empty mug from her hands so she wouldn't have to go downstairs to the kitchen, before returning to her room, which was right next to Zach's.

Zach watched her back as she left the room, before getting up with a sigh. Dani's words were making a lot of sense to him at that moment of time.

XO XO XO XO XO

Brennan, Booth, and the rest of the team got out of their respective cars, looking with slight surprise at the large number of cars parked in the church car park.

"I never realised how popular Zach's parents were" Angela said, smoothing her black dress were it had wrinkled up from sitting in the car, and Cam found herself nodding.

"Did he mention anything to you, Jack?"

Hodgins shook his head, "He didn't go into that much detail when he talked about his family to me."

They all walked through the car park, passing small groups of people who were standing by their cars, getting things out of the boots, or just talking. Booth nudged Brennan in the side, nodding towards the front of the church, where Zach was standing with a group of people who Brennan assumed were his siblings. Zach glanced over in their direction as they got closer, and gave them a weak smile excusing himself from those he was standing with and walking over to them. Angela embraced him.

"Hi, Sweetie, how are you?"

Zach shrugged nervously, "I don't know. It's hard to believe that today we say goodbye to them, even though I know that they are really gone." He faded off and looked down, suddenly interested in his shoes. Booth watched, his eyes filled with sympathy as Zach obviously struggled to keep the tears that were welling up in his eyes from rolling down his cheeks. He heard a slight noise, and glanced up, instinct taking over, before he relaxed, taking in the girl that had walked over, following Zach. Booth knew just by looking at her, taking in her puffy, red eyes, and the resemblance she bore to Zach that she was obviously one of his siblings. Hodgins looked up when he noticed she was there, and gave her a smile.

"Hey, Dani. How you going?"

"I'm going ok, thanks Dr. Hodgins." The girl, Dani, said. Zach looked at her, and held out his arm. She stepped forward, and he gently pulled her into a hug.

"Everyone, this is my little Sister, Dani. Dani, this is Dr. Brennan, Dr. Saroyen, Agent Booth and Dr. Sweets."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. Zach's told me so much about you." Dani said, smiling up at the older people. Booth immediately noticed that, although she and Zach looked similar, the younger of the pair carried none of the awkward, shy manner that he had known Zach carried around people he did not know or trust. Booth could also tell that, of the two, she was the dominant, even though Zach was three years older. Despite this, he could tell from the way that Zach kept one arm around his sister as she shook hands with everyone in the gang that Zach was very protective of his baby sister, and would readily defend her against anything that threatened her.

The group stood for a little while, until Zach broke the silence.

"They found the man who did this. It was an old army friend of my Dads. They had a disagreement a couple of years ago, and Dad stopped talking to him. Last month, he started contacting Dad again, and well, they had another argument, and he pulled out a gun." Zach looked away, his eyes filling with tears again. He was saved when a man, about Booths age, came over.

"Zach, Dani, can I borrow you two for a bit. The service is going to start soon, and Minister Hemingway wants to talk to us before it starts."

"Ok Steve" Dani spoke for both of them, her voice cracking slightly. Zach nodded, and the three moved away, Zach turning to hesitantly wave his hand in farewell.

"That was their oldest brother, Steve" Angela said.

"He was the one that rang up to tell Zach about what happened?" Cam asked. Angela nodded.

"I thought I remembered his voice. Come on, let's go and get some good seats."

"How do you know who they are?" Booth asked Angela and Hodgins as they walked towards the church.

"Zach introduced us to Dani when we dropped him off in Ohio." Hodgins said.

"And Zach showed me a family photo that night and told me who everyone was." Angela added as they crossed the threshold of the church, accepting booklets from the two elderly women who stood in the doorway. Angela looked down at the front page and felt her eyes well up with tears. The paper was a pale pink, with swirling, dark blue, calligraphy style writing printed onto it. What had affected her, though, was the picture on the front cover. It was a picture of Zach's parents, cropped so it was circular, their smiling faces looking up from the page. They both looked very happy in the photo. She shook her head and sidled into a pew about halfway down the church. Booth, and all of the Squints (minus Zach of course), were all in the same pew, sitting side by side. Booth noticed, with a grin, that Bones had, intentionally or not, positioned herself next to him. Just down the pew a little bit, Hodgins was having the same thoughts about the still composing herself Angela. From where they sat they could see the two coffins, identical in design, up on the dais, the lids covered with flowers. Angela sniffed a couple of times, before falling silent,

The church quickly filled, with few places unoccupied. Then, the entire congregation fell silent as the priest, minister Hemingway, slowly walked down the isle, followed closely by the six Addy children, walking in pairs. Booth guessed that their order of birth had influenced who walked where, because Zach and Dani brought up the rear of the procession. At the back of the church, someone pulled the heavy wooden doors closed, dimming the light slightly, but the church was still well lit, with the many windows letting sunlight in, and a few electric lights adding to the light. Zach and his family sat in the front pew, as the priest made his way to his pulpit, and began to speak, beginning his service.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

By the end of the service, there was not a dry eye in the church. Even Booth and Dr. Brennan were dabbing at their eyes. It had been a relatively simple service, with each of the Addy children playing a part. Steve, Matt, and Zach read the eulogies, with each of them taking a part of their parent's lives. Lizzie had read her mother's favourite reading from the bible, and Sam had read his fathers. Dani's contribution was at the close of the service, and reduced those of the congregation who were not already crying to a bawling mess. She had used her experience with computers to scan all of the family pictures she could find (her mother had been a avid family photographer), and then, selecting ones with her parents in them, she had created a slideshow of the pictures, complete with headings, music that her parent's had listened to, and edited in a way that it ran as smoothly as the latest Hollywood romance flick. The slideshow was shown on a screen that was set up, with a projector connected to a laptop sitting to the side.

Zach sat, watching the slideshow, tears clouding his vision, and an arm wrapped around Dani's shoulders. Dani had her head nestled into his side, and Zach could feel moisture soaking through his shirt from the flood of tears she was crying. Zach glanced sideways, noticing that each of his older siblings was huddled up with their respective significant other, that is, their wife, husband, or girlfriend. He and Dani both were unattached, so they had gone to each other seeking comfort. Zach had a feeling that it wouldn't be the first time that he and Dani would be left alone to struggle with dealing with everything that had happened. He knew, logically, that it was inevitable. His older siblings would be able to be supported better by their own attachments, than by anyone else, in their time of turmoil they were going through. He and Dani would simply have to do what they had done for the majority of their short lived, and band together.

XO XO XO XO XO

The graveside service that followed the church service was short, but meaningful. The squint squad stood together, minus Zach, of course. They were standing across the grave from Zach and his family, and they could all see how Zach and Dani were drawing comfort from each other. Booth watched them, standing between Sweets and Bones. Sweets opened his mouth to say something; but Booth shot him a look.

"Not now, Sweets" Booth whispered, and Sweets sighed, rolling his eyes.

"What's not now" Bones asked, having overheard Booth's comment. Booth looked at her and shook his head.

"Later, Sweetie" Angela muttered, catching onto the discussion. Brennan pursed her lips, but fell silent.

In his head, Booth's thoughts flew back to the conclusion of the church service, when Zach, his brothers, and a couple of other men Booth had guessed were Zach's uncles and cousins, had grouped together to carry the two coffins out. Dani, and Zach's older sister, Lizzie, had walked in front of the coffins, each of them carrying a large photo of one of their parents.

Zach had looked small, pale, and ridiculously young next to the other men. The suit he was wearing didn't look rights, and seemed to dwarf the young Squint's skinny frame. Booth realised with a pang that Zach really wasn't that much older than a boy, and he had just lost his parents. He instantly resolved to at least be nice to the kid in the future.

After the completion of the graveside service, Zach had slowly walked up to the group, wiping at his eyes as he approached them, trying to get rid of the tears. Dani walked behind him, not even bothering to wipe her tears away and she sobbed.

"Um, Lizzie asked me to ask you guys if you want to come around to the house now for some late morning tea. Mom's friends organised it. It's really going to be family and close friends, but Lizzie said, because you guys are like my second family, you are welcome."

"Of course we'll come, sweetie." Angela said, hugging Zach. Zach stiffened at the contact, relaxing only when Angela drew away. Dani stood silently beside Zach, watching him interacting with them. He was obviously uncomfortable with being unable to show any control over his emotions in front of his work colleagues, but she couldn't think of anything to make him feel better. Zach wrote out the address for his house, and some directions for them to follow to get there.

"Zach, we have a GPS, we can figure it out" Booth said, rolling his eyes.

"Those things are unreliable, at best, Agent Booth" Zach replied, and Dani nodded to back up her sibling.

"Yeah, there are a lot of streets that have the same name in this area, getting lost is really easy. Usually, I'm all for technology, but in this area, GPS's are a waste of time."

Booth turned his attention to the younger girl, who avoided his gaze, obviously having just realised that she might have just crossed the line.

"Is that so?" Booth asked, keeping his voice friendly. Dani nodded, and Zach backed her up.

"Yes, that's another reason I don't like driving. It's easier to just navigate for someone else and have control of the music." Zach added, and Booth let out a chuckle.

"I'll take your word for it."

XO XO XO XO XO

Booth let out a low whistle as he pulled up down the street from Zach's parent's house. All along the street cars were parked, and Bones raised her eyebrows at him questioningly.

"I though Zach said that only family and close friends were invited?" Booth commented to Bones, who shrugged.

"Well, Zach is part of a big family, once you consider all of his siblings having cars, some of their spouses, his uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and then all the close friends. This probably is gong to only be a small number of them." She told him in her 'logic voice.' In the back seat, Sweets and Cam shot sideways glances at each other, grinning.

The group were walking up the sidewalk when they first saw Zach's house. In his mind, Booth grinned. It was exactly as he imagined it to be; a large, multi story house, with a green front lawn, a white picket fence, and rose bushes growing along the front porch. The door was wide open, and there was a constant stream of people walking down the garden path towards the dwelling.

Hodgins was smiling, eyeing a large tree that was in the lawn, and imagining a young Zach, examining a book, or some interesting object that he had found in its shade while his siblings played basketball in the driveway.

Dr. Brennan led the way down the garden path and stepped up onto the porch, crossing it in a few steps before entering the house. An elderly woman was standing by the door.

"Hello, my name is Rosie. I don't believe we've met."

"I'm Dr. Temperence Brennan from the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington. We all," she gestured at the rest of the Squints, plus Booth "work with Zach."

"Oh, that's lovely, I am Zach's Aunt."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Rosie" Booth nodded his head, shooting a look in Brennan's direction.

"We're very sorry for your loss" Dr. Brannan said, catching Booth's hint.

"Thank-you dear. Zach and the others haven't come back from the cemetery quite yet, but they should be back soon. Help yourself to tea or coffee in the kitchen."

"Thank-you" Dr. Brennan said, leading the team towards the kitchen.

"Good job, Bones. That was the best job I've seen you do of comforting someone yet." Booth grinned.

Angela was looking around her. The house was clean, and there were many photographs that decorated the walls. She could pick Zach out in many of them. After the entire gang had gotten a hot drink, they moved back into the living room and looked at the pictures. Angela smiled as she spotted one.

"Hey, Hodgins, check out little Zach" she whispered. Hodgins came over, followed by the rest of the team. They all looked at the photo frame she was pointing at. It was obviously taken at Halloween, as Zach, and Dani, were both standing beside a pumpkin. Zack looked about six in the photo, making Dani about three. Hodgins sniggered and Angela hit him on the underside of the head.

"They look so little" Dr. Saroyen gushed and Booth rolled his eyes, though he privately thought the photo was kind of cute. Zach was dressed as Luke Skywalker, with a mini lightsaber hanging from his bet, and an arm around Dani's shoulder. Dani's dark hair had been coiled on the side of her head, in a perfect imitation of Princess Leia's. Both of them were grinning at the camera.

"You think they look cute there, wait till you see this" Sweets said from down the wall a little. The squints moved towards him, and as they reached the photo he was pointing at, Angela sighed.

"Awwww, that's so cute."

"Don't let Zach hear you say that" Booth said.

"Hear you say what?" asked Zach from the doorway.

"Angela's gushing about how cute you were when you were little" Hodgins said.

"Oh, I thought it was something bad for a moment there." Zach walked over to them, and Angela hugged him. Zach didn't stiffen up this time, but leant into the embrace slightly.

"You okay, Sweetie?" she asked. Zach could only shrug in response.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The afternoon of the day after the funeral, the Will of Zach's parents were going to be read. Zach hadn't seemed overly fazed about it, but none of the other Squints were convinced. Zach had told them that, the day after Matt and Sam were both leaving to go back to their homes, and Zach was struggling with the fact that he would be primarily alone to cope with his grief of loosing his parents. No matter how much he tried to hide how upset he was, the others, even Bones, could see right through the act.

It had been mid afternoon when Hodgins' phone had rung. He had answered it quickly, after seeing from the caller ID that was shown in the screen that it was Zach that was calling him.

"Hey, Zach, how are you going?" The rest of the group had looked up as Hodgins had spoken, falling silent. They had all been at a restaurant, having some late lunch. Hodgins got to his feet, ignoring everyone else's questioning looks.

"Okay, stay there and I'll come and get you. I'm sure they didn't mean it Zach." Hodgins moved towards the door, pulling his car keys from his pocket as he walked. The squints watched as he opened the door and walked out of the restaurant, the door banging closed behind him.

"What was that about?" Cam asked, and Angela shrugged.

"I don't know, but he is telling me when he gets back."

"I'd say that Zach is upset about something, and ended up stranded somewhere, and Hodgins is going to go and get him."

"I was thinking the same thing," Booth said.

In the end, it was only half an hour later when Hodgins called and told the rest of the gang that he was back at the hotel room. The Squints all left the restaurant after that, and went back to the hotel they were staying at. They hurried to the room Hodgins and Angela were sharing, and knocked on the door. Hodgins quickly answered it.

"Thank-god you guys are here. I don't know what to do. This isn't science." He said. The gang entered the room, and Booth could swear that he heard a quick succession of thuds as the entire gang's mouths hit the floor. Zach was huddled on the couch, with Dani curled up beside him. Both of them were in tears. Dani was sobbing quietly into Zach's shoulder, and Zach had a distant, vacant expression on his face. Booth had only seen Zach with that look upon his face a couple of times, when Zach was thinking about what he saw in Iraq.

"Did he say what happened?" Sweets asked Hodgins.

"Apparently the older siblings aren't going to do a family thing over Christmas, and they dropped the bombshell to Zach and Dani at the reading of the Will. Apparently, one of them has already booked a family holiday to L.A. over Christmas. You all know what Christmas with his family meant to Zach, and Dani is only 19, and now it's like most of the surviving members of the family are abandoning them."

"That's so wrong. Who would hurt their younger brother and sister like this?" Angela said. Booth shook his head. The family that had once been so lovely and caring had fallen apart at the seams. He sidled a look at Bones, whose eyes had filled with tears. With a pang, he realised that the story was very similar to hers. He watched as Bones slowly walked across the room towards the younger pair. Zach blinked and met her eyes, his tear filled eyes reflecting in hers. She crouched in front of them, smiling reassuringly at Zach, before pulling him into a surprising hug. Zach's eyes snapped open in shock, but he didn't struggle against the contact. Dani watched, a tiny, forced smile upon her face, as her brother was embraced by his boss and mentor. He had told her so much about Dr. Temperance Brennan, and had even given her some of the Anthropologist's books for Christmas last year. It was good to see him being comforted by someone who he cared about, and who obviously cared about him. She blinked, her eyes welling up with tears again.

Bones looked at the girl who was sitting beside Zach, and saw herself there. Ridiculously young, still fighting to find her own place in the world, but having lost her parents, and being seemingly rejected by the majority of her older siblings. Although Dani was too old to have to worry about the pitfalls of the foster care system, there were many years of parental comfort that she would miss out on.

And in that moment, Bones realised that not only she, but the entire Squint squad (and Booth,) had been tied to the young teenager that sat before them, lost in a world of grief, and unable to escape without their help.

XO XO XO XO XO

Zach was sitting in his childhood bedroom, stretched out on his bed. It was night time, though it was not late. Downstairs, he could hear voices, and shuddered. Ever since he and Dani had arrived, their had been tentative attempts taken by all of them to begin the packing up of his parent's belongings, but now that the will had been read, and the time was rapidly approaching for the family to split up once more, The clearing had begun in earnest. They had all decided to sell the house, and divide the money up amongst them equally. Then, everything that had not been specifically mentioned in the will had to be sorted into different piles. One pile for each of Zach's siblings, and one for himself, one for other people that had been a part of his parents life, one for the op shop, and one for the rubbish. Zach had spent his entire day helping out, but now he just wanted some time to himself. A slight knock on the door blew those plans away.

"Yes?" Zach asked, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, Zach, I hope you weren't asleep?" Lizzie said, pushing the door open.

"No, I wasn't sleeping" Zach smiled at his elder sister. She meant well, but she was overdoing it with trying to mother her younger siblings.

"I just came up to give you this. We're almost done for the night now." She handed him a large album. Zach narrowed his eyes.

"I thought Dani would have wanted this?"

"She said straight out that she didn't want it, she has digital copies of everything in there anyway, so I should give it to you."

"Is she sure?"

"Yes, I know she is."

"Alright, thank-you Lizzie"

"Sweet dreams Zach" Zach watched Lizzie as she left the room, closing the door behind her, before looking at the album, running his fingers along the smooth surface of the book. He opened up the front cover and looked at the front page. His own baby photo was positioned there, along with a highly decorated piece of paper, stating his name, date of birth, time of birth and weight at birth. Beneath that, there was Dani's baby photo, with her own information.

Two years ago, Zach's mother had compiled together all of her children's photos into albums. Zach and Dani had shared an album, as had Steve and Matt, and Lizzie and Sam. His mother had decorated the albums, and then unveiled them to her children the next Christmas. Zach flicked through the album, smiling as he watched himself grow through the pages. He let out a sigh as he reached the last page. It had been added recently, as it featured photos from the day he got his Doctorate. He carefully closed the book, before sliding off his bed and leaving his room. He walked down the passage to Dani's bedroom door, knocking on it before pushing it open. Dani was kneeling on the floor in front of her open suitcase, carefully adding the things that she'd been given to the stuff that was already in there. Zach noticed how her fingers lingered on a couple of his mother's old jewellery cases as she slid them between the stacks of folded clothes.

"Hey Zach" she whispered.

"Hello," Zach replied, sitting down beside her.

"When do your friends go back?"

"The day after tomorrow, I'm leaving with them. You're leaving the next day, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. Lizzie wanted to take me shopping for something."

"Oh," Zach suddenly felt as if there was nothing else to say.

"Lizzie has given you some of Mom's jewellery too. It's with the rest of your stuff."

"Why would she give me jewellery, it would be better for you or her to have it?"

"She's only being fair, Zach. All of the other boys got some too, to give to their wife."

"Sam isn't married."

"He will be at some point, and, regardless of how awkward you are, Zach, I'm sure someone will one day take one look at you and fall in love, and you will love with them too."

"The statistics of that happening are very slight, Dani" Zach commented, and Dani shot him a look, long used to her brother's comments.

"We'll see, Zach, We'll see."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Zach stretched his legs and savoured the rays of sunshine that shone upon the front veranda of his parent's house. He was sitting on the swinging chair, his legs outstretched, gently rocking himself as he watched Dani fiddle with their father's motorcycle. When their father had gone through his mid life crisis two or three years ago, he had bought himself the motorbike, and, as Dani had been the only one at home at the time, he'd taught her how to ride it, much to their mother's horror. Dani had loved it, and had often, when she was home, borrowed the Bike and gone off for a couple of hours, so it didn't surprise any of the siblings when Dani had been given the motorbike in the will. Zach knew that, when they'd gone on family vacations to the mountains, Dani and their father had sometimes gone dirt biking with Steve, and sometimes Matt. Sam had never gone, preferring to go for a walk and admire the nature, while Lizzie and their mother had stayed behind and done girly things. Zach often had found himself going walking until he found a nice, quiet spot, before setting down with a good book or some research. Of course, he hadn't been on an actual family vacation since he had finished college and gone to the Jeffersonian.

Earlier that morning, Sam had left, heading back home. Matt was leaving the next morning, and Dani was planning on leaving as early as possible the next day. Zach had already packed all of his things, and everything he had inherited (including the jewellery), and now he was just enjoying having a few minutes to himself before Hodgins and Booth arrived in their cars to pick him up, before the entire Squint team went back to the capital.

Zach was ready to go back to Washington. It didn't make any logical sense for him to linger on in Michigan, his parents were dead, and his older siblings were determined to move on with their lives. There was nothing left for Zach in his hometown except for childhood memories, which Zach knew were dangerous to dwell on, and harsh reminders of his sibling's abandonment, which Zach wanted to forget about, though he was unable to, the stinging pain of the rejection still too fresh for him to bury. It was obvious, to Zach at least, that Dani was suffering with the same feeling of disconnectedness from her former home. Zach could tell from the way she was acting that she was restless, eager to get back to college and to try and rejoin the academic world, where, in Dani's opinion, family had no place.

Steve had told Zach that Lizzie was going to buy Dani her own set of Motorcycle leathers, which apparently was what their parents had planned on giving her for Christmas. Zach had suddenly been thankful for Lizzie's overprotective nature, as he knew what the risk was for a motorcycle rider of sustaining a significant injury while wearing leather, compared with if they were wearing denim, or another less protective form of clothing.

Zach was pulled from his musings when he heard the familiar sound of Hodgins' car pulling up at the side of the street, with Booth's SUV pulling up behind. Zach got to his feet as his 'other family' walked up the garden path.

"Hey, Zach, how's it going?" Hodgins asked, grinning cheerfully. Zach nodded.

"Fine, thanks. All of my belongings have been packed into bags, and I am ready to go."

"Okay, you go and grab your bags, and I'll make some room in the boot of the cars" Hodgins said, and started to walk back to the cars.

"I'll help you, Sweetie," Angel smiled, and Zach nodded, turning around and walking back inside. Cam and Brennan paused, before following Angela into the house, while Booth went to help Hodgins make room in the boot of the two cars for Zach's stuff.

Sweets, on the other hand, walked over to where Dani was sitting on the driveway, and sat beside her.

"Hey," he softly said. Dani looked at him.

"Hi, you're Dr. Sweets, right?"

Sweets nodded, "How are you going, Dani?"

"Pretty good, considering what the last week and half has been like. I think I'm looking forward to heading back to school. Everything makes sense there. Computers don't ditch you in favour of the latest vacation spots." Dani laughed at her last comment.

"Seriously, how are you coping with it?" Sweets asked. Dani's face turned serious.

"Seriously, I think I'm managing, if only just. It's kind of hard, because here, there are so many reminders, I mean; I have to go past Mom and Dad's bedroom every time I want to go to my room, not to mention all the memories in this house. On the other hand, I don't feel so numb now, it's like it's just started to sink in. There have been a couple of times when I've just started crying, and I don't know what's triggered it." Dani broke of, her gaze returning to the motorbike she was sitting beside and gently, with a soft cloth, rubbed at a mud spot. Once the spot was gone, she spoke again.

"Fiddling with his bike makes so much sense to me, even when nothing else does. I've been so tempted to deliberately get someone to muck with the wiring of my computer, just so I can fix it. Like Anakin Skywalker says in Episode 2, Attack of the clones, 'everything makes so much more sense when I'm fixing things.' Saying that makes me sound like the biggest geek this side of the Canadian border, but it's so true."

Sweets let out a slight laugh at the reference, "It doesn't make you sound that Geeky, really. I've been told similar sorts of things by other people."

Dani nodded, "yeah, they just probably word it differently." She broke of when she realised that Zach was approaching them, having carried all his boxes of stuff out to the cars. There had been more boxed than he had anticipated, since he was emptying his room of everything that had been stored in there, as well as the clothes he had brought with him, and the additional things he had inherited. Sweets got to his feet, nodding in acknowledgement of Zach, before walking away towards the cars. Dani got up and stood beside Zach

"Bye Dani" Sweets called over his shoulder.

"Goodbye, Dr. Sweets, it's been nice talking to you" Dani replied, before turning her attention to Zach.

"Did you get everything, Zach?" she asked.

"Yes, and Steve has told me that if they find anything that I have forgotten he will send it to me"

"Good, I'm going to miss you, Zach. We really should see each other more often."

"I know, but I often work on weekends with Dr. Brennan, and you have college all through the week."

"And spend all weekend doing assignments. At least I've got holidays coming up. Four weeks of doing absolutely nothing."

"What are your plans for the Christmas vacation?" Zach asked, knowing that Dani's upcoming holidays were the ones that spanned Christmas.

"Nothing, at the moment. I'll probably go on a road trip or something, especially over Christmas, since campus is closed down from the weekend before Christmas, till the weekend after new years." Dani shrugged. Zach looked over his shoulder, and noticed that Hodgins was waiting for him to get into his car.

"I've got to go, if you want to call me, anytime, you can."

"I'll send you an email when I get back to school, okay Zach?"

"That would be good, Dani." Zach smiled at his little sister, before pulling her into a hug. They both had tears in their eyes as they pulled away.

"Bye, Zach" Dani smiled, rubbing his arm comfortingly. Zach nodded, patting her on the shoulder.

"Bye Dani," he said, before turning away and walking across the front yard to the front gate, which was open. He closed it behind him and walked down the street to where Hodgins was parked. Letting himself into the car, Zach didn't notice how Angela was dabbing the tears from her own eyes. Hodgins started the car up and pulled out onto the street. Zach watched at they drove past his old house, Dani waving from her place in the driveway. Zach waved back at her, but then they had gone past the house, and turned out of the street, Booth's SUV following close behind.

"Ready head back home, Zach?" Hodgins asked.

Zach paused, before nodding his head, "as ready as I'll ever be, Dr. Hodgins."

_The End_

**A.N. Before you say it, I did not intend for this story to have a Sweets/Dani touch to it, but I realised as I was writing that part of this chapter that it sounded like it. At the moment, I have no plans of their being a Dani/Sweets romance (but that doesn't mean there won't be).**

**I know you all are probably kind of confused at the moment, but, instead of making this one big long huge story, I have decided to break it up so it is a series. You have just finished the first story of the series. **

**The next instalment will be online soon (hopefully)**

**Please REVIEW!!!**

**R.W.**


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